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Family of Florida boy killed by Neighborhood Watch seeks arrest

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At this point I want to see more people than just Zimmerman go to jail. The more I read about this case, the more I smell corruption.

"Another officer corrected a witness after she told him that she heard the teen cry for help.

The officer told the witness, a long-time teacher, it was Zimmerman who cried for help, said the witness. ABC News has spoken to the teacher and she confirmed that the officer corrected her when she said she heard the teenager shout for help."

This is fishy shit, no?
 
Paging KHarvey.

Looking bad for Batman over here. Disgusting how the florida enforcement could just cover that up though."It was Zimmerman shouting for help wasn't it!!". Fuck them.
 
SerArthurDayne said:
Also, you can't start a fight and then shoot somebody. You can start a fight, they pull out a gun, and then you shoot them. But you can't bring a gun, start a fight, lose that fight, and then shoot them.
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And that is exactly what happened.

Chased kid down, kid fought back, dude saves himself from the deserved beating with his gun.

That's not self-defense.
 
I haven't read through this whole thread but Zimmerman is claiming self defense and the officer is saying there is no probable cause to dispute it. Isn't the fact that Zimmerman initiated contact with an unarmed person after being told to stand down by officers enough to show that he overreacted? Where is the evidence that Trayvon acted in a threatening matter? There is evidence that Zimmerman overreacted.
 
Korey said:
Updated Facts:

Victim
  • Black
  • Age: 17
  • Weight: 140 lbs
  • 11th grade high school student
  • Previous Record: No arrest record or disciplinary action for violence
  • Carrying: Ice tea, Skittles
  • What he was doing prior to altercation: Getting candy for younger brother; minding his own business
  • What he did during altercation: Got shot and died
  • Status: Dead


Shooter
  • White
  • Age: 26
  • Weight: ~240 lbs
  • College student, self-appointed captain of The Retreat at Twin Lakes neighborhood watch, studying criminal justice in college
  • Previous Record: Battery against on officer and resisting arrest in 2005, charges dropped
  • Carrying: Kel Tek 9mm semi-automatic gun
  • What he was doing prior to altercation: Stalked someone he found suspicious in his car, called the police, told by police not to follow guy he is trailing, follows him anyway, gets out of car to engage him
  • What he did during altercation: Shot and killed someone
  • What he did after altercation: Claimed self defense
  • Status: Not arrested


Florida Police
  • A narcotics detective and not a homicide detective first approached Zimmerman. The detective peppered Zimmerman with questions rather than allow Zimmerman to tell his story.
  • Another officer corrected a witness after she told him that she heard the teen cry for help. The officer told the witness, a long-time teacher, it was Zimmerman who cried for help, said the witness. ABC News has spoken to the teacher and she confirmed that the officer corrected her when she said she heard the teenager shout for help.
  • Police Chief Billy Lee publicly admitted that officers accepted Zimmerman's word at the scene that he had no police record. An officer told the father that Zimmerman's record was "squeaky clean." Yet public records showed that Zimmerman was charged with battery against on officer and resisting arrest in 2005, a charge which was later expunged.
  • Won't release 911 tape due to investigation
Click to expand...

If zimmerman is 240 pounds why does the news report state that he was getting his ass kicked by the teen hence the self defense claim? this entire incident smells fishy.
 
There is a very strong case for corruption in the police department the more I read about this case.
 
George Zimmerman Neighbors Complained About Aggressive Tactics Before Trayvon Martin Killing

A volunteer community watch captain who shot an unarmed Florida teenager to death last month had been the subject of complaints by neighbors in his gated community for aggressive tactics, a homeowner said.

George Zimmerman has not been charged in the Feb. 26 shooting of Trayvon Martin, 17, who was walking home from a convenience store in Sanford, Fla., near Orlando. Zimmerman, who patrolled the Retreat at Twin Lakes development in his own car, had been called aggressive in earlier complaints to the local police and the homeowner's association, according to a homeowner who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

At an emergency homeowner’s association meeting on March 1, “one man was escorted out because he openly expressed his frustration because he had previously contacted the Sanford Police Department about Zimmerman approaching him and even coming to his home,” the resident wrote in an email to HuffPost. “It was also made known that there had been several complaints about George Zimmerman and his tactics" in his neighborhood watch captain role.

The meeting was attended by Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee, the detective assigned to the investigation and an unnamed member of the city council, according to the homeowner’s association newsletter. The chief couldn't immediately be reached for comment about the complaints. A member of the homeowner’s association board, who asked not to be quoted by name, said she “hadn’t heard about any complaints” about Zimmerman. Zimmerman's phone number is disconnected and efforts to reach him have been unsuccessful.

...

According to Martin’s family, police initially told them that Zimmerman said he acted in self-defense and that his record was “squeaky-clean.” Public records show he was arrested in Orange County in 2005 on charges of resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer. Those charges were later dropped.

Benjamin Crump, the Martin family’s attorney, filed a public records lawsuit last week seeking the 911 recordings for the night of the shooting. Crump said people with access to the tapes told him Zimmerman made a comment about Martin’s race during the call and said he had no intention of letting the youth get away because, “they always get away.”

“I don’t think they have any intention on arresting this white man for killing this black boy,” Crump said on Sharpton’s radio show Monday.

Chief Lee said during a Monday afternoon news conference that his department’s investigation should be concluded by Tuesday and delivered to the Seminole County State Attorney’s Office. Lynne Bumpus-Hooper, a spokeswoman for the State Attorney’s Office, said once the case is handed over “it will be thoroughly digested and we will make decisions.”

Protestors jeered Lee during the news conference when he said he does not believe his investigators have enough evidence to charge Zimmerman in the killing, according to local news accounts. Lee said that he believes that “we can get through all the ugly thoughts and all the disagreements and all the ill will and hard feelings and truly come together as a community.”

“It is with that thought that we want to make sure that we due a fair and complete and thorough investigation so that we can reach some form of justice with this event,” Lee said. He added “that there is the right for someone that has a concealed weapons permit to carry that weapon” and that police support the neighborhood watch program.

“In this case Mr. Zimmerman has made the statement of self defense," Lee said. "Until we can establish probable cause to dispute that, we don’t have the grounds to arrest him.”

One person shouted, "The black community sees your department protecting the shooter," and "a little black boy is dead."
Click to expand...

Summary:


- People in the neighborhood have commented on Zimmerman's aggressiveness as the captain of the neighborhood watch. They even had a meeting about it after the shooting and one neighbor was so mad about it he had to be escorted out.

- During Zimmerman's 911 call, he made a comment about the victim's race and said he had no intention of letting the youth get away because, “they always get away.”


So far, a lot of it is hearsay and can't be confirmed until the 911 tapes are released, but is damning if true. It can prove that Zimmerman's approach was racially motivated. This also reeks of police corruption, although I can't figure out why they would want to cover for this nobody in such a high profile case.
 
Korey said:
George Zimmerman Neighbors Complained About Aggressive Tactics Before Trayvon Martin Killing



Summary:


- People in the neighborhood and in the homeowner's association had previously complained about Zimmerman's aggressiveness as the captain of the neighborhood watch. They even had a meeting about it and one neighbor was so mad about it he had to be escorted out.

- Police Chief Bill Lee, the fucking guy in charge of this investigation, was AT THAT MEETING, so he already knew or knew of Zimmerman before this whole thing went down.

- During Zimmerman's 911 call, he made a comment about the victim's race and said he had no intention of letting the youth get away because, “they always get away.”


So far, a lot of it is hearsay and can't be confirmed until the 911 tapes are released, but is damning if true. It can prove that Zimmerman's approach was racially motivated. This also reeks of police corruption, although I can't figure out why they would want to cover for this nobody in such a high profile case.
Click to expand...

You've got your timeline wrong - that meeting occurred after the shooting.
 
TGateKeeper said:
If zimmerman is 240 pounds why does the news report state that he was getting his ass kicked by the teen hence the self defense claim? this entire incident smells fishy.
Click to expand...
he got angry that a 140lbs kid kicked his ass. "I'll show you", he thought and pulled out his gun. BANG!!!!
 
Have there been protests or demonstrations outside of the Sanford Police Dept or anything like that? I know the police won't just arrest Zimmerman because the public demands it, but Jesus Christ, there's gotta be something that can be done? I'm physically trembling with anger.
 
As someone who lives in Florida and about an hour away from Sanford I wouldn't be surprised if this is sheer incompetence as opposed to a cover up or someone protecting Zimmerman.

This is a little long and unrelated but it gives some perspective on the way police and other local government work in this general area of Florida, at least in my experience .

I once watched as 6-8 police officers stood around joking with each other while a 15 year old boy lay unconscious and bleeding from his head less than 20 feet away. It was a few minutes before EMTs got there and started helping him. When me and some other people said something to them about helping him they just told us to leave. While all this was going on they somehow found time to search a nearby car (completely unrelated) and arrest a girl for possession of marijuana. Luckily the kid ended up with just a few stitches.

Less than a month ago me and my brother saw a car go up over a median in a parking lot and crash into a few cars. I ran over to the car to see what I could do while my brother called 911. When the dispatcher picked up they said, "911, please hold," which he did for 2 minutes on an emergency line! Meanwhile I had found the car with one person in it, a women probably in her 30s, very clearly having a seizure. The doors were locked and the engine was still running, she was hitting the gas but luckily the cars she'd hit were preventing her from going anywhere. When 911 finally picked up again my brother explained the situation, we'd seen a car crash, etc. They asked how old she was, does she have any medical conditions, questions we couldn't possibly answer because as he tried to explain several times she was a complete stranger.

By this time the woman had started to come to and accidentally hit the lock. Me and a very nice retired nurse who had showen up by then got in, shut the car off, and got the keys out of the ignition. The woman was not responding. She just looked around wide eyed and oblivious. As she tried to get up and started tripping we helped her to sit back down. There was not a whiff of alcohol to be found. No way was she drunk. EMTs and firefighters arrived shortly after this. They out right told the nurse she wasn't needed, leave. Because my brother and I witnessed it and made the call we were told to stay and wait for police to arrive.

Half the first responders to arrive stood around talking, doing nothing. One of them made the universal hand to mouth she's been drinking sign. Again, just not possible, to be that drunk you'd have to smell it from a distance. I held her as we sat her back down and didn't smell a thing. Maybe drugs but no way drinking. They loaded her up, took her away, and 20 minutes later still no cops. No one said a word to us after the initial contact so we just left. No call later. Nothing.

Everything about "Central" Florida was shocking to me after being raised in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area but nothing more so than the general laziness and incompetence of the police. South Florida cops might be crooked or just down right douche bags, but they show up and at least in my experience look like they're doing something.
 
I have said this before and I will say this again, how come no one is pressing the police about probable cause? It is the reason the police won't arrest yet it seems you have more than enough for probable cause. If this isn't probable cause, then what the fuck is? Every single piece of evidence that comes out adds more and more probability that this guy is a fuck head. God this is so rage inducing. He even fucking said that they always get away so this time the kid doesn't but oh it was self defense so that is that.

If I tell people that my neighbor needs to stop what they are doing or I will do something about it and then phone the police that I will do something about it and then proceed to end up killing my neighbor, how am I not locked up?
 
J.W.Crazy said:
As someone who lives in Florida and about an hour away from Sanford I wouldn't be surprised if this is sheer incompetence as opposed to a cover up or someone protecting Zimmerman.
Click to expand...

Daytona area? I grew up in Port Orange and I've heard that the cops there rank among the worst in the country.
 
matt360 said:
Daytona area? I grew up in Port Orange and I've heard that the cops there rank among the worst in the country.
Click to expand...

No, Marion county. Largest and I'm told poorest county in the state. I wouldn't be surprised about cops there though, everything about this part of Florida is backwards. When I moved up here in the 90s the school system was a full year+ behind what I'd learned the year before. I was still being taught things in middle school that I'd already learned in 4th and 5th grade down south. Sometimes it feels like a different country here.
 
Trayvon Martin Shooter Still Not Arrested

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01oZP4gCtog&feature=g-all-u&context=G2ca7780FAAAAAAAAEAA

Chief Bill Lee of the Sanford Police Department on Thursday evening said the account given by Martin’s family and attorney is correct, that Zimmerman saw the young man walking home from the store. He said that Zimmerman did indeed call 911 and report a suspicious person, and that he was told not to follow him.

“For some reason he felt that Trayvon, the way that he was walking or appeared seemed suspicious to him,” Lee said. “He called this in and at one part of this initial call [the dispatcher] recommends him not to follow Trayvon. A police officer is on the way at that point.”

Lee said that Zimmerman instead followed Martin.

“I believe that Mr. Zimmerman was trying to, by his account, find an address to give the officers and also trying to keep Trayvon in eyesight.”

Zimmerman told the police that Martin noticed that he was being followed and asked, “what’s your problem?”

That's when a physical confrontation ensued, Lee said. And moments later, Martin was shot.

Lee said that Zimmerman has a legal permit to carry the weapon used in the shooting, and that he told police that he shot Martin in self-defense.

“He felt the need to defend himself,” Lee said. “ I don’t think it was his intent to go and shoot somebody” that night.
Click to expand...

DEFEND HIMSELF!? So this zimmerman follows this kid because he is black. The kid notices he's being followed and says " What's your problem"

Then zimmerman shoots him in the chest out of self defense? The kid was carrying skittles and an arizona ice tea. Does that combo of tasty snacks look like a gun or something?



I'm sick and tired of stories like this. Zimmerman is a racist that's for certain. But for the police chief to also be racist is unacceptable. He should be fired immediately, and zimmerman should be sitting in a cell right now waiting for trial.
 
Jea Song said:
Trayvon Martin Shooter Still Not Arrested

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01oZP4gCtog&feature=g-all-u&context=G2ca7780FAAAAAAAAEAA
Click to expand...
TYT is focusing a bit too much on the race issue here. Yes, it's very likely the result of racism. But the problem here is murder + police corruption. What if the roles were reversed? I would be just as angry. But I'm not angry because of the racial issues, even though that's probably the cause because:

1. I would be profiling the entire white population as a group.
2. I would be profiling the entire black population as a group.

And that would be racist. I wouldn't compare Zimmerman to other white people I know. I wouldn't compare those corrupted cops to white people I know. I compare cops to cops and murderers to murderers.
 
J.W.Crazy said:
No, Marion county. Largest and I'm told poorest county in the state. I wouldn't be surprised about cops there though, everything about this part of Florida is backwards. When I moved up here in the 90s the school system was a full year+ behind what I'd learned the year before. I was still being taught things in middle school that I'd already learned in 4th and 5th grade down south. Sometimes it feels like a different country here.
Click to expand...

Ah, Marion County. Say no more. Silver Springs is always fun, though.
 
Protestors jeered Lee during the news conference when he said he does not believe his investigators have enough evidence to charge Zimmerman in the killing, according to local news accounts. Lee said that he believes that “we can get through all the ugly thoughts and all the disagreements and all the ill will and hard feelings and truly come together as a community.”

“It is with that thought that we want to make sure that we due a fair and complete and thorough investigation so that we can reach some form of justice with this event,” Lee said. He added “that there is the right for someone that has a concealed weapons permit to carry that weapon” and that police support the neighborhood watch program.

“In this case Mr. Zimmerman has made the statement of self defense," Lee said. "Until we can establish probable cause to dispute that, we don’t have the grounds to arrest him.”
Click to expand...

Welp.

Thats it, my heart can't take this. It was in the back of my mind but I had always hoped that there would be justice. I don't even care about the semantics of "race" but goddamn at the end of the day a 17 year old kid (someone who's barely got a chance to live) is dead and Zimmerman gets off scot free.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshihiro_Hattori

He's like a sketchy Phoenix Wright villain, but we can't finish it off. This is just insane...

EDIT: Reminds me of the Yoshihiro Hattori case, an equally disgusting case.
 
PK Gaming said:
Welp.

Thats it, my heart can't take this. It was in the back of my mind but I had always hoped that there would be justice. I don't even care about the semantics of "race" but goddamn at the end of the day a 17 year old kid (someone who's barely got a chance to live) is dead and Zimmerman gets off scot free.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshihiro_Hattori

He's like a sketchy Phoenix Wright villain, but we can't finish it off. This is just insane...

EDIT: Reminds me of the Yoshihiro Hattori case, an equally disgusting case.
Click to expand...

“In this case Mr. Zimmerman has made the statement of self defense," Lee said. "Until we can establish probable cause to dispute that, we don’t have the grounds to arrest him.”

So as long as no one sees me, I can kill a random person, claim self defence, and walk off scott free? Sickening.
 
Dead Man said:
“In this case Mr. Zimmerman has made the statement of self defense," Lee said. "Until we can establish probable cause to dispute that, we don’t have the grounds to arrest him.”

So as long as no one sees me, I can kill a random person, claim self defence, and walk off scott free? Sickening.
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if you have a license to carry you can pick a fight with anybody in florida and when they fight back you can kill them and claim self defense.
 
He considers himself a hero, but heroes don't kill innocent people.

Sorry for my spamming. I shouldn't even care, millions people die every day, so why am I so broken up?!? It's probably since we're similar in age (He's 17 and i'm 19) but urgh.
 
Dead Man said:
“In this case Mr. Zimmerman has made the statement of self defense," Lee said. "Until we can establish probable cause to dispute that, we don’t have the grounds to arrest him.”

So as long as no one sees me, I can kill a random person, claim self defence, and walk off scott free? Sickening.
Click to expand...

That's complete bullshit.

Step 1: Call cops
Step 2: Shoot person
Step 3: Claim self defense
Step 4: You win
 
justjohn said:
Don't hold your breadth. People will be angry for a few days and by next week it will all be forgotten?
Click to expand...

I really hope not. I read about injustice all the time, but this story is sticking with me like few others ever have. There's not much I can do from Japan aside from providing monetary support if needed, but as a Floridian and as a human being, I'd be ashamed if nothing comes of this.
 
Pretty mad at this whole story. Like I can't stop thinking about it.

I'm in Japan too (basically from Florida right outside Orlando), I've signed the online petition and shared it on fb. I'm about to talk to my family about it so that maybe they can try to do something too.. send letters or something.

He called 911 first and then went out and started whatever confrontation there was... sooo, shouldn't that kind of cancel out the whole self defense load of crap?
 
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/15/2696446_p2/trayvon-martin-case-give-do-public.html

SANFORD -- They heard the desperate wail of a child, a gunshot, and then silence.

Trayvon Martin, 17, died Feb. 26 in a dark pathway some 20 minutes after a neighborhood watch volunteer called police saying he thought a young stranger looked suspicious. It was raining, and the volunteer thought the kid in the hoodie walked too slow and peeked in windows.

Three witnesses contacted by The Miami Herald say they saw or heard the moments before and after the Miami Gardens teenager’s killing. All three said they heard the last howl for help from a despondent boy, and believe the sequence of sounds shatters the notion that Trayvon was killed in self defense.

As the controversy grows, so does the number of voices disputing the official version that watch captain George Zimmerman gave to police: that the 6-foot, 3-inch, 140-pound teen assaulted him when Zimmerman, 28, tried to question him. In fear for his life, he pulled Kel Tek .9mm handgun from his waistband and shot.

From Facebook to twitter and online petitions, local police and prosecutors are getting tens of thousands of demands for criminal charges as the national media shines a spotlight on a small, racially diverse town with a history of police tension. There are now more and more calls for the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene and try to answer: what really happened to Trayvon Martin?

“I heard someone crying – not boo-hoo crying, but scared or terrified or hurt maybe,” said Mary Cutcher, 31. “To me, it was a child.”

Watch captain George Zimmerman said he tailed Trayvon in a mission to find out if the teen was up to no good. Zimmerman was out to put a stop to recent burglaries. He dialed police – his 46th call in the past 14 months to report shady people, reckless drivers and other disturbances around his neighborhood.

He offered to follow his suspect, but the dispatcher told him: “We don’t need you to do that.”

But Zimmerman did anyway. Some minutes later, Trayvon was killed with a gun the watch volunteer was licensed to carry.

“This was not self defense,” Cutcher said. “We heard no fighting, no wrestling, no punching. We heard a boy crying. As soon as the shot went off, it stopped, which tells me it was the child crying. If it had been Zimmerman crying, it wouldn’t have stopped. If you’re hurting, you’re hurting.”

She and her friend say they heard the sounds from a few steps away, where they were inside beside an open window. Seconds later, they dashed out to find a boy face down on the ground and a man standing over him, a foot on each side of the body on the ground, with his hands pinning the shooting victim down.

“I asked him, ‘What’s happening here? What’s going on?’ said Cutcher’s friend, who did not want her name published for fear for her safety. “The third time, I was indignant, and he said, ‘just call the police.’ Then I saw him with his hands over his head in the universal sign of: ‘Oh man, I messed up.’”

The women, who were the first on the scene, said they saw Zimmerman pacing back and forth.

“I know what I heard. I heard a cry and a shot,” the second witness said. “If there was a fight, it did not happen here where the boy was shot. I would have heard it, as this all happened right outside my open window.”
Click to expand...

More in the link...
 
So, uh, why didn't the upstanding Sanford PD, who could never be racist or involved in a cover-up, obtain statements from these three witnesses?
 
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